


Rehearsal

by dogheaven



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Elves with tails, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Purring Elves, davenport with a hearing aid, this was supposed to be smutty but then it wasnt OOPS
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-07
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-08 02:04:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15920682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dogheaven/pseuds/dogheaven
Summary: After an ordeal like the one they've been through, Davenport can appreciate it taking Taako a while to heal.





	Rehearsal

It took Taako a long time to be himself again.

Or, at least, the Taako that had been cultivated over one hundred years, rather than the lost, shell-shocked, lonely elf he’d become sans-memories.  

Davenport watched him heal, watched him pick up the pieces of himself and attempt to rearrange them back into some semblance of Taako. Watched him try and fumble through a century’s worth of memories of adventure and loss and fear and _family._

And Davenport understood.

It was-- _humiliating,_ to say the least, looking back on the past decade of service. _Ten years_ without remembering who he was -- _what_ he was.

He understood.

So after the Bureau was unofficially disbanded and the world was saved, Taako took it upon himself to take back his old room on the Starblaster when he wasn’t attached to Lup’s hip, or off visiting his otherworldly beau.

Davenport didn’t mind. He himself had moved back into his captain’s quarters, and it was nice to have at least one other person onboard. He was too small a man to have the entire ship to himself. They were both aware it was temporary. The Starblaster was home, sure, but it wasn’t _home,_ not without the other members of their family. They would eventually have to move on.

But for now, the ship was safe. It was removed and static and comfortable. It was what they needed.

The two of them would often spend the nights together on the bow of the ship, feet dangling off the edge and tails occasionally brushing. Davenport would be nursing a glass of whiskey and Taako (usually a full bottle of) port wine.

Sometimes they’d talk, but more often than not they sat in silence, watching the twinkling lights of Neverwinter below them, the wind chill tearing through coats and fur.

On particularly cold nights, like this one, Taako would move close, resting his shoulder at an awkward angle against Davenport, trying to stave off the night air by sharing the feeble amount of body heat the gnome had.

The contact was welcomed, if a bit uncertain. It had been a long, long time since the last time he’d had the twins all over him, and although he was missing half of his little committee, Davenport could appreciate how touched starved he was just with the little bit of contact from the elf.

He shuffled closer, curling an arm around the other in as much as he could reach (which, realistically, wasn’t _that_ much). His fist curled into a ball against Taako’s coat, his claws half-extending in a possessive grip of the fabric.

Taako pressed his cheek into the top of Davenport’s hair, his long ear tickling the back of the gnome’s neck. He sighed heavily, and his alcohol-laden breath clouded out in front of them.  Davenport’s tail twitched unconsciously, and he reached up to pat the elf on the head in reassurance.

Taako seemed to like that, huffing a little in his chest as Davenport’s small hand carded through his hair. His ears twitched again, bumping Davenport’s own ear with the heavy gold jewelry.

Lup had always been the more physical of the two, her ears and tail betraying her every whim and emotion. It seemed like after all this time Taako had lost his penchant for hiding that, at least.

He settled more heavily onto the gnome, and that made a corner of Davenport’s lip quirk in amusement, his neck bending awkwardly.

“Taako, let’s get you to bed. You’ve had quite enough to drink tonight.” He punctuated this by trying to stand under the gangly elf’s weight (with little success). After a moment, Taako did get the hint and backed off, blinking sleepily as he watched him stand.

Davenport dusted off his trousers and offered a hand to the elf, who took it unnecessarily, helping himself up and off the edge. He followed Davenport inside a half-step behind him, the end of his tail brushing against the gnome’s. His yawn, overdramatic and loud, was swallowed up by the night sky.

They padded through the ship’s eerily silent hallways, dark now without the need to keep anything lit -- they both had darkvision, after all.

Davenport did his best not to think about the time Magnus had wrestled some animal onto the ship, trying to keep it as a pet-- the claw marks were still present against the wall, or the time Lucretia had fallen asleep waiting for them to return from a scouting mission, curled up on the ground right here amidst threadbare blankets. His heart felt heavy and he blinked hard once, hand coming up to fiddle with his hearing aid as a way to occupy himself.

At Taako’s room, Davenport opened the door and helped the unusually contemplative elf to the mattress, tucking him in under his already-horrendously messy duvet. He gave the elf a pat on the bony hip and turned to leave, but heard a soft noise, almost indiscernible without his hearing aid.

He turned back to Taako, eyebrow cocked in a silent question.

The elf had sat up in bed, rubbing his cheek with his hand sheepishly and his ears pinned back. His tail gave a little twitch.

“I said, you, uh... Is it cool if you just stay with me for a bit, cap?”

This time, he _did_ catch that, ear cocked in his direction, and conceded. He smiled a little before signing back at him, two fingers moving in a circle before tapping down onto his fist (“ _of course_ ”). He shut the door with his foot before climbing clumsily onto the ( _needlessly_ tall) bed with the elf. Taako scooted over, letting him shuffle under the covers alongside him, before promptly dropping his head onto Davenport’s chest, ears flicking up contentedly.

Davenport huffed a little at that (he wasn’t a large gnome), but did appreciate the warmth. After a moment of a somewhat-awkward pause, he resumed his earlier petting, running his fingers through the damaged locks of silver-blonde hair, over the velvety tips of his ears.

It was nice, at least, to have something methodical to do with his hands instead of staring up at the ceiling in his own bunk, eyes wide and straining from lack of sleep. Plus, Taako’s room smelled nice, like burned-out incense and lavender.

Taako’s breath hitched as Davenport’s bitten-down claws lightly passed over the delicate insides of his auricles, and for a brief pause Davenport feared he’d hurt the elf, but with a rough hiccup and rumble, he felt Taako start to purr.

It was rusty from misuse and he seemed a little out of breath trying to force the little noises out of his chest, but it was undeniably a purr. His cold nose buried into the rough fabric of Davenport’s jacket as his whole body trembled.

The gnome couldn’t help but smile, scritching against his scalp and letting his fingers brush against the jewelry dangling from his ears. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard Taako purr, and doubted he’d done so in the years following before now. It was an oddity for the elf unless he was in the presence of his sister-- that much Davenport knew for certain. Renewed, he indulged the elf further, rubbing at the thin skin between his paw pads, over his head and down his neck, brushing away the little flyaway hairs that were escaping his scrunchie.

The steady, methodical purring, reverberating from Taako and into Davenport’s bones slowly lulled him off to sleep, even if he wasn’t meaning to. And having Taako there against him, knowing he was safe (if damaged), was nice. Davenport slept better than he had in a long time.

**Author's Note:**

> this took a much different direction than i was planning for it to go lol 
> 
> hmu on @marzipan-s  
> comments and kudos feed me my writing juice thank you <3


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